The Mysterious Case of the Empty Beds
by LittlePlumTree
Summary: After one of James' better thought out pranks, Sirius is without a bed. Remus is only too happy to share, but will it bring up feelings neither have been willing to accept?


At the back of the 5th year classroom, silent apart from the monotonous dronings of Professor Binns, sat four boys. One, with black hair that stuck up at the back and glasses, was doing his best to look like he was taking notes every time a certain red headed girl glanced his way. Next to him, a boy with scruffy black hair and a face that would have been arrogantly good looking if he hadn't been doing his best not to laugh, and failing miserable. The reason for the second boy's barely contained laughter sat on the far left. A short, round boy was trying desperately to catch his quill, which was floating just out of his reach above him. A stern whisper from the fourth boy, sitting on the far right, and almost angelic looking with honey coloured hair and a slightly turned up nose, brought the quill back down to the desk with a small tap.

"Aw Rem, you're no fun," smirked the boy responsible for the mysterious floating of Peter's quill. "You know what else is no fun? Detention. And that's where you'll end up if you don't pay attention, Sirius," sighed Remus. "Yeah yeah, we all know you'd lend me your notes anyway," was the smooth retort, accompanied by what Sirius hoped was a winning smile.

Rolling his eyes, Remus turned back to his work. Sirius, now out of a job to do with the quill now grasped firmly in Peter's hand, turned to James. "Staring at her won't make her any more likely to go out with you, you know." James turned slightly red and quickly looked back down at his parchment as the red headed girl turned and smirked at him, ignoring the giggles from her friends.

After what seemed like years, and after setting them 6 inches of parchment on the Goblin Revolution, Professor Binns declared the lesson over. Sirius was first out of the classroom, followed closely by Peter and Remus. Looking over his shoulder he could see James hovering by the door, obviously waiting for Lily. "He's wasting his time, isn't he Sirius," Peter stated. Sirius glanced at Lily, who had swept right past him, but was tinged faintly pink around her ears. "Oh I don't know about that, someday he may just surprise himself," he replied, and Remus laughed inspite of himself.

They headed up the giant stair case to the common room. "Caput Draconis," James muttered, and the stepped through the portrait hole. Sirius launched himself onto the couch, books thrown on the floor, and sighed. Remus, a little more sedately, fell onto the other couch. "I'm all for History of Magic, but Binns seemed even more boring than usual today."

"You've got that right, Moony, and six inches! That's slave labour," James agreed.

"Not that you were actually paying attention, James. Though I suppose if there was an exam on the back of Lily Evans' head, you'd get top marks," Sirius said, daringly, and Peter gave a snort of laughter. James, too tired to came up with a smart retort, just huffed and stormed up the stairs to the boys dormitories. "You two shouldn't wind him up, you know it's a sensitive subject," Remus admonished, but was met only with stifled laughter on Peter's behalf, and not so stifled laughter from Sirius.

James returned to the common room after a while looking decidedly happier, much to the other boys relief. However, it was only when they arrived back in their dorm after dinner did they discover why. James, still with a cheery smile on his face, undressed and readied for bed with the explanation, "If I'm going to have a chance getting Lily to come to Hogsmead with me tomorrow, then I am going to need my strength. Goodnight!"

Peter was quick to follow, and soon it was only Remus and Sirius out of bed. Sirius was sprawled on the floor, moving a chess piece around the room with his wand, making it knock against bed posts and tap along the window sill. A disgruntled sigh came from Remus, who was hanging off the side of an arm chair with a book. "Must you?"

"Must I what?"

"Must you be as irritating as possible when you know I'm trying to read?"

"Oh. Well, yes. It's not as much fun when it doesn't annoy someone," Sirius reasoned.

Another sigh from Remus. "Well in that case, I'm going to bed." He got up, crossed the room and climbed into bed.

"Look on the bright side, Remmy. It's Saturday tomorrow! Hogsmead!" Sirius' attempts to brighten the mood were apparently unsuccessful, and Remus only replied, "I've told you, don't call me Remmy."

All was silent after this.

For about 2 minutes.

Sirius, giving up on his fun, had flicked off the dorm light and was pulling back the covers to his own bed. Remus gave a small sigh of relief. Peace and quiet. He pulled out his wand, and muttered, "Lumos." The tip of the wand glowed, and he opened his book again.

It didn't last long. Half way through the first sentence, there was a yell from Sirius' side of the room and the lights snapped on. "JAMES!" Remus slammed his book shut. "What in Merlin's name is the matter now!" He pulled back his bed curtain to see Sirius, hair sticking up and in his pajamas, looking ready to kill. "JAMES, I SWEAR TO MERLIN..." but a hand slapped itself over his mouth before he could finish, and Remus held it there for a few seconds to be sure he wouldn't yell again. There was no sound from the other two beds.

"Now what's the matter?" he questioned a still irate looking Sirius.

"Look at my bed!" came the muffled reply through Remus' hand. He slowly took it away, and turned to look. Sirius' bed, instead of looking warm and inviting, with a warming pan and puffy quilt, looked quite the opposite. The sheets were bright green with goo, and there was an unmistakable smell of pond slime.

Remus felt the urge to laugh, but sensed this would probably not help the situation, and turned back to look at Sirius instead. "How do you know it was James?"

In reply, a very quiet, muffled giggle came from James' bed.

Remus looked at Sirius again. "So fix it! You know the charm don't you?"

"I tried that! Bloody well put some anti-scourgifying charm on it as well, hasn't he!"

Several spells and a lot of swearing later, both Remus and Sirius had to agree there was no way it was coming off tonight. Remus put down his wand, defeated. "You brought this on yourself you know. I told you not to tease him." But then he took one look at Sirius' downcast expression and softened.

"So where are you going to sleep? The arm chair might be ok..."

"Yeah I guess... the arm chair will do. Thanks for your help Remmy."

To which Remus half-heartedly responded, "Don't call me Remmy." He watched as Sirius grabbed a blanket off the back of the chair and curled up in it. It didn't look very comfy. Then, he fell back into his own bed, book forgotten, and fell asleep.

Two hours later, he awoke again. Lying very still, he tried to figure out what had woken him. The sound came again. A shuffle and a discontented sigh from the direction of the arm chair.

"Sirius? Are you awake?" Remus whispered into the darkness.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry, I just can't get comfy on this thing!"

Remus thought for a minute and then whispered back, "Do you want to share my bed?" to which Sirius replied gratefully, "I thought you'd never ask!"

Remus heard the small scuff of feet crossing the room, and then he felt Sirius scramble in beside him. "You're freezing!" he gasped as his arm came into contact with Sirius' shoulder.

"Yeah, well, it's not so warm with only one blanket and no warming pan, is it?" Sirius growled back. And then, "James is going to pay for this..."

Remus awoke to sun streaming through the gap in the curtain where Sirius had drawn it slipped through last night. He blinked in the bright light, and then became aware of the other person in the bed. Sirius was asleep on his side next to him, with an arm over his eyes and the other slung across Remus' waist. He lay there for a long time, listening to Sirius breathing in and out, his eyes closed against the harsh beam of light. He guessed it was about 7 o clock, and knew the other boys would be up soon, curious to see what became of Sirius after the bed incident. He shifted slightly and the arm was quickly withdrawn from around his middle. Turning his head sideways he met a pair of dark grey eyes, blinking sleepily in the sunlight. "Morning Moony," came the sleepy greeting, and Remus smiled and whispered back, "Morning Padfoot."

Sitting up, Sirius rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up all the more. 'Cute', thought Remus, and then, 'Oh no...'

You see, Remus had a good reason for weighing up the odds of letting Sirius sleep in his bed last night. He also had a good reason for not wanting to wake Sirius and have him remove his arm. Remus hated to admit it, and, granted, had been doing a pretty good job of repressing it over the last few months, but that last thought had just undone months of inner arguing and convincing himself he was over it. Over him. Over Sirius Black.

With a squeak, Remus flung himself out of bed and dashed across the room into the hall and then into the boys bathroom. Sirius gazed confusedly after him, and the way his hair still managed to look perfect and delicious even after 8 hours of tossing and turning in bed. And then, almost as an afterthought, 'Cute' and then, 'Oh no...'

You see, Sirius also had a good reason why he'd leapt at the chance to share Remus' bed last night. He'd also had a good reason for not removing his arm right away when he woke up, until he realised that Remus was awake too. Sirius hated to admit it, and, granted, he hadn't been too obvious for the last couple of months, but that last thought had just confirmed everything he needed to know. And he needed to get over it. Over him. Over Remus Lupin.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Well, that is, as uneventful as it is possible to be with the Marauders around. Sirius had laughed off the slime-in-the-bed incident almost as quickly as he had flown into a temper, and James produced the appropriate counter curse to de-slime the bed. James almost succeeded in convincing Lily Evans to accompany him to Hogsmead, until Snivellus had shouldered him in the corridor and James tried to hex him. Lily had declared that until he could grow up, she wasn't going anywhere with him. This had put James in a rather forlorn mood, but he cheered up greatly on their arrival at Zonko's. Sirius and Remus acted as they always did around each other, Remus reprimanding Sirius on his antics, and Sirius laughing it off with an arm slung around Remus' shoulder for good measure. Peter hung on every word, and was successfully convinced that it was a good idea to eat 3 Growing Gobstoppers from Honeydukes at once, and the result, it has to be said, was a bit of a mouthful...

All in all, it was a good day, and when they returned to the common room that evening, laden with sweets, new quills and parchment, they were thoroughly worn out. By 8 o clock they were well and truly sick of Exploding Snap, and dragged their feet upstairs to their dorm.

"No more slime in your bed tonight, Padfoot?" came the cheeky comment from Peter as they changed into their pajamas. "Don't go there Wormtail..." Remus warned, but Sirius only laughed and dived onto his bed. "Nope, seems fine to me!" Remus couldn't help feel a twinge of disappointment. He wouldn't mind sharing a bed with Sirius again. He picked up his book and started to read, but again got no further than the first line when it was plucked from his hands. "Hey! I was reading that."

"I could see that Remmy, and that was the whole problem. Do you ever stop reading!" Sirius was holding the book just out of Remus' reach, and he was not going to play along and jump for it.

"If I didn't there's no way any of us would pass our exams! I'm the one that does all the research!"

"Touche, Rem, touche. But I hardly think this counts as research." He turned the book over to study the cover, which displayed the writing, 'Complete Works of William Shakespeare'. "Is he a Muggle? He sounds like a right prat, what sort of name is 'Shakespeare'!"

Remus blushed slightly and snatched the book back. "Well I'm allowed to read what I want. It's a free country." Sirius only laughed and flopped down on the bed beside him. After a few seconds Remus stopped again. "I hate people reading over my shoulder."

"Who says I was!"

"Anyway, I thought you said he sounded like a 'right prat'?"

"Yeah well... I'm allowed to be curious. It's a free country." Sirius winked, and flicked his wand in the direction of a chess piece. It started its journey around the room again, knocking into bed posts and tapping along the window sill. This time, Remus had work very hard not to smile.

20 minutes later, and the chess piece had become still. Remus had hardly noticed, he was so caught up in the book. It was only when James announced he was going to sleep, and Peter quickly agreed, that Remus turned to see Sirius, head resting against the headboard, eyes closed, sound asleep. He smiled to himself, and gently got off the bed. When he came back from the bathroom in his pajamas, Sirius had mysteriously moved from being leaned up against the headboard, to being curled in a ball on top of the blankets. Remus edged in beside him, and fell asleep.

When Sirius woke the next morning, he smiled to himself. That had worked nicely, he thought. Remus was so innocent, he realised, as he watched him breathe slowly in and out from the other side of the bed. Of course, Sirius hadn't really been asleep. Not when Remus had come back from the bathroom anyway. But he had been comfortable enough to stay where he was and wait for Remus to fall asleep. When he was sure Remus was really asleep, he had slipped inside the blankets too, and fallen asleep easily.

He stirred a little, and Remus sighed and turned. Meeting Sirius' eyes, he whispered, "This is becoming a habit." But he smiled, and Sirius felt his stomach flip slightly. "Not my fault I fell asleep," he replied, and smiled back.

Over the next week, Sirius 'fell asleep' in Remus' bed exactly twice more, and Remus had ended up in Sirius' bed after a nightmare. The full moon was the next night, and his dreams had been full of wolves and blood, and a big black dog. Sirius had heard his whimpering, woken him up, and led him back to his own bed. Remus hadn't had such a good sleep in a long while. It seemed that Peter and James were oblivious to the fact that they hardly spent a night in their respective beds, which was probably for the better. Both boys felt it would be better if it stayed a secret. Not that they told each other this, but it was mutually understood.

The full moon brought with it all the danger and discomfort it usually did for Remus, but it was a comfort knowing that the big black dog, the stag and the rat would be right there beside him. He woke up the next day in the hospital wing, and found a tall boy with wild black hair slouched in the chair next to him. "Hey Moony, you feeling better?"

"Hey Pads. And no, not really," he said with a weak smile.

"Yeah, silly question. We saved you some dinner. The house elves said they'd bring it up to the common room if you're feeling well enough." Sirius was fidgeting in his chair, looking worried.

"That'd be nice. Can you call Madam Pomfrey over? I'd quite like to get back to the common room actually." And the look of relief on Sirius' face was enough to make Remus feel almost well again.

Remus was lying in bed, on the last chapter of the "Complete Works of William Shakespeare". Sirius was sprawled out beside him, this time muttering, "Lumos. Nox. Lumos. Nox," and watching the tip of his want light up and go out with every word. Remus had given up trying to get him to stop. That was the thing with Sirius, he never did. His mind always had to be occupied with something, and when annoying Remus with the chess piece had grown boring, he'd resorted to his current method. After the 53rd time his wand had lit up and gone out, Sirius turned his head and looked at Remus. He had his face scrunched up, reading in the dim light. Remus gave one more "Lumos" and moved his wand above the book. Remus looked up, startled. "I was just giving you some light. Sorry, I'll stop," Sirius said apologetically.

"No, it's good. Thanks," replied Remus, before burying his head back in his book. Sirius made to get up, but Remus looked up again. "Where are you going?"

"Well, bed I suppose."

"Why?"

"Because it's late, and I'm tired?"

"Not why are you going to bed, I mean, why are you going to YOUR bed?"

"Oh. Well I'll stay then."

"Good." And Remus smiled, and Sirius had to sit back down on the bed before he fell onto it.

He looked at Remus again, the way he scrunched his nose and chewed his lip when he got caught up in the book. And he wondered, what would happen if he just leaned over and kissed him? If he just pulled the book out of his hands, and stroked his face? What would Remus do? No. This was mad. Of course he couldn't! There is no way him doing that would lead to anything but trouble. But then, trouble seemed to follow Sirius. And if he wasn't much mistaken, Remus secretly liked trouble.

Without stopping to think, Sirius reached across and took the book. Remus looked up. "Hey! I was on the last page!"

"Yeah, well Shakespeare is just going to have to wait." And he leaned over, and before his mind could tell his lips this was a bad idea, he pressed them to Remus'.

It took about three seconds for Sirius to realise that Remus was kissing him back. He pulled away in surprise, and Remus went bright red and made to get up. Sirius pushed him back against the headboard and kissed him again, slightly harder this time, and Remus gladly kissed back. Sirius' hands moved up and down Remus' sides, and Remus tangled his hands in Sirius' hair, running his hands through it, making it stick up more wildly than ever. Gently Sirius pushed his tongue into the other boy's mouth, and was at once met with and small moan. They kissed for almost a minute, then James' voice cut through the silence of the room, "Hey Peter! It's finally happened!"

Sirius pulled back to see the curtain swinging gently. "James, were you spying on us!"

James called cheerily back, "Well I only wanted to borrow Rem's 'Goblin Revolution' notes. I couldn't help it that you two were all over each other!"

Sirius groaned and turned in surprise to see Remus shaking with laughter. Once Remus started laughing, it was very hard to get him to stop, so Sirius did the only thing that made sense anymore, and kissed him.

And that night, there was no mention of Sirius going back to his own bed.


End file.
